Javelin
by beaker010
Summary: I started writing this several years ago, however it's only the begging of it. Javelin is about a young man who developes a love or rather an obsession for magic. this is my first story so all feedback, good and bad, as well as advice woudl be appriciate
1. Chapter 1

**Javelin**

The effects of the spell were finishing. The sky dimming, the earth cooling from the heat, the smell of sulfur almost burned his nose. There was no doubt that this was the most powerful spell ever cast since the first apocalypse. Javelin had fallen to his knees Kiel running to his master's aid. "Master, here sit up, how can I help?"

"Shhhhh, ah silence, so rare, so precious. Here, help me stand." Kiel handed javelin his staff and helped him get up. The two where standing in a crater at least a mile wide, created from the spell. The sky was red and cloudless. It was unbelievable to think that just two minutes ago they where standing in a beautiful forest, the sky full of clouds, birds singing, it is amazing how quickly all that could reverse. As Kiel was admiring this, javelin began to cough up blood and a strange sparkling substance. This was the first time he had seen his master show any sign of weakness in all the years he had been under his teaching.

"Master, what's the matter, are you wounded?" Kiel asked.

"That spell was too much; I won't live for much longer. I can already feel the magic draining."

Once again Javelin had fallen to the ground. This time Javelin just sat on a stone. Kiel, joining him asked. "What are we to do? Were both out of mana and the walls of this crater are too steep to climb."

With a sigh Javelin said. "Don't panic. It is apparent that were going to be here a while. Now pay close attention for I will not be able to repeat myself. You must take command of the wizard high order. I left orders for this to occur. Next, you must protect the zodiak stone with your life. " Javelin carefully handed Kiel the precious stone that had been handed down from generation to generation of wizard high priests since the dawning of creation. Sternly he said.

"You are being given a very big responsibility, Kiel. Do you think you can handle it?" Kiel knew he would have a lot of work to do if he accepted. He said

"If you would have me do so, I would walk into the deepest part of the dark forest. I accept this responsibility, master." With that gentle smile of his, javelin said.

"You remind me of myself when I was young, I was so afraid."

Jokingly, Kiel said. "That must have ages ago."

Smiling, Javelin answered. "Yes, actually it was, thousands of years. It was an age of light, of relative peace, before all of this war and evil. I believe its time you learned my story."

"But everyone knows the story's about you." Kiel questioned.

"No, they know the legends and myths. I'm talking about _my _story, the one about _me, _not Javelin arch wizard, lord of magic. I mean the story of Darius Sith."

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The sounds of swords clashing could be heard a mile away as Javelin and Clint's swords struck each other. This lesson was very intense, it had lasted almost an hour, so the two men were almost completely out of breath. Clint had given Javelin a two handed-long sword, but only allowed him to use one hand to fight with. This built up the swinging muscles in that arm. Javelin was about five when he first moved onto the farm after his father's death. But now he almost thirteen years old and he already had the muscular build of a man. His messy black and gray hair was hidden from the world by the old brown hat that he had received from his uncle as a gift when he turned ten as it was a tradition for the elves to give there sons a special gift on their tenth year. But javelin's father had died almost six years ago and his mother; eight years ago. And so he was put into the custody of his loving uncle Clint and aunt Aura. How either of his parents had died was kept a secret from Javelin, his uncle telling him that it didn't matter because tit would make the thought of their loss even more painful. Though he was curious about his parents, he never asked about them, it always seemed to upset Clint, but that was fine, it never bothered Javelin.

Javelin was nicknamed after his most obvious skill, with the throwing spear, which is very common to be done in Aradnia. His actual name was Darius Sith. He was a very hard worker and hated leaving anything left unfinished this was his human side. Javelin was also part elf which resulted in his good hearing and eye sight and also his stealth whish resulted in his tendency of being a trouble maker on the farm. Javelin would hide a chicken's eggs for the thrill of being chased; sometimes he would dress as an ogre to scare a cow. But his tricks and taunts stopped with that, he never did any thing more than that. Clint once threatened that if javelin ever did exceed the lines of small pranks he would never teach him any more fighting techniques like sword practice or archery.

Javelin liked lots of things like sword fighting and fishing. He also liked to read, not fairytales or stories, but books about different places and races like dragons and goblins. About powerful humans and elves. You could often find him fanaticizing himself as a warrior or adventurer in the near-by forest. But these things grew boring after time; this was when javelin finally grew the courage and nerve to ask his uncle to teach him how to wield a sword. Much to his surprise his uncle gladly agreed and began his first lesson.

But he had one secret passion or rather an obsession, something that his uncle would greatly disapprove of. He was consumed by the thought of magic, of sorcery. He dreamed of becoming the most powerful wizard in the entire face of Farren (the world on which they reside). It wasn't long after, that a wizard had come to their village looking for spell components. That day Javelin was in the town picking up a package for his uncle when he met the young man looking at a strange stick shaped like a snake. Then, the man noticed the boy starring at him and asked his name and the name of this village.

"I'm javelin, and this is Valen. What's your name?"

"My name's Danith". He said this with a strange accent that sounded like a mix between elf and dwarf. Javelin was astonished by this man, he couldn't understand why, but he couldn't stop asking every question that popped into his head.

"Where are you from, what are you doing here, have you cast many spells, how'd you learn to cast spells, do you ride horses or did you use magic to get here?" Despite all this Danith seemed very patent with him and answered all his questions with a voice that seemed to be a whisper but javelin could hear him as if he where shouting. It seemed very strange to him that the wizard studied him as intensely as he did, observing his every move and each detail of what he said. It seemed so ironic to javelin that he was being studied more than the wizard was. He merely saw it as a coincidence, perhaps he didn't get to see much of the country life and obsessed about the life that javelin lived. Their conversation seemed only to last but a few minutes but after several hours Danith said.

"You're a very interesting young man, and though I'd love to talk for all of eternity, I really must go now. But don't fret, I feel that we'll meet again, and much sooner than we think. Until then I bid you farewell javelin of Valen, may your teachings go well." And with that he disappeared.

On his way home Javelin thought of nothing but Danith and how it would be like to live like him, it was something that he had dreamed about all of his life. Once he got home he hung his hat up went to the kitchen to give the package to his uncle.

"What took so long? I would have thought you'd be back ages ago. Did you meet some lady I should know about?" He asked with a taunting smile.

"I met this man in the market, he was a wizard it was rather interesting. I don't think I've ever met one before, have you?" With this, his uncle's smile turned to a frown. Realizing that this was not a good sign Javelin tried to save himself.

"We just talked for a few minutes, besides its good to meet new faces right?"

"Wrong, wizards are evil, casting their terrible little spells with their dark creatures at their side. It's its wrong to cast magic, or even be around magic for that matter. "

"But I don't see what's so wrong with them" With this argument going on, Aura left the kitchen leaving them alone, allowing the lecture to escalate into an argument. He knew this resistance was futile. When Javelin got into trouble, she usually stood up and defended him, but whenever she knew it wouldn't help she'd just leave the room and not say a word, acting as fit never happened. And this was definitely one of those times. Javelin had bitten off way more than he could chew and he and Clint both knew it. He should have given up a long time ago but he felt that he should go on which was suicide.

"It's dangerous and reckless to cast even the simplest spell. And plus their lazy and never do any work, just using magic to do there work. I've lived a lot longer than most people and I used my own hands to get this far, and I surely wont let you waist you life away ruining you life! "

"I don't want you going anywhere near a wizard again!" With that he left Javelin alone. Clint was usually a gentle man, but when you crossed paths with him he could be vicious as a mother dragon. He would never hit Javelin, but scold him harshly, so harshly that he wished his uncle would have hit him instead.

Four years, three months, and twelve days later, Javelin was turning butter around dawn getting ready for the big day. Out of all of the four hundred and twelve days of the year this one was the most important to half of the world, today was the first day of harvest. But there was another reason it was special, something would happen that not even the wise men or the even the gods could have foreseen. Clint, who was up before anyone else on the farms, was milking the cows. Javelin doubted his uncle had even slept because he was so excited. Whistling to himself Javelin was gathering up the harvesting tools when his uncle came running in to the shed, caught his breath, then said

"Javelin! I don't know what were going to do! We don't have any wheat bags and our cycle just broke! Can you go into town to fetch them? It could take a while to get through with all the chaos but we need them"

"Is that all you need, just a sickle and wheat bags?"

"Yes and be as quick as possible" Clint gave him seven coins and a smile and ran back to work. Javelin was proud of himself for receiving such responsibility. He started on his way to town with about ten feet of rope for the supplies. It seemed like such a long journey but it was only a mile to town and he was jogging instead of walking like he usually did. Before he even got there, there were lots of people on their way to market or vice versa. Around the local tavern Javelin had some thief encounters but outsmarted them, but it was near the fish store that a thin and short man with a strange looking beard grabbed his coin pouch and ran for it. Javelin who was a fast runner had trouble keeping up with him, turning around corners and ducking out of the guardsmen's view. Javelin needed that money and was willing to do what ever it took to get it back. Suddenly right in front of a guard the man was walking slowly with a stick in his left hand as support. Javelin dived on top of the man and began hitting him until he was hit in the back of the head with something hard and he rolled onto his side with lots of people looking at him in disgust. The guardsman held javelin by his arm and shouted at people to get back. It was then that javelin realized what had happened, the looks of disgust where aimed at him, but why he asked himself he robbed me. Then he saw the man's face, it wasn't the thief but an old man who was now bleeding and coughing constantly. Javelin tried to explain but the shouts of the crowd and the guard drowned his voice. That was the last thing he remembered because once again he was hit in the head and knocked unconscious.

When he awoke he was cold and hungry. Shivering he tried to sit up but he felt his arm tugged, his arm was bound to something. After a while Javelin realized where he was, the local prison and his arm was bound with rope to a bar. It wasn't that small of a cell but it was crowded with thieves, murderers, bandits which made him nervous and jumpy. Only a few of them had their arm tied like his most likely the more dangerous ones, but why would he be dangerous, he just tried to get his money back. Javelin was looking around trying to peace this puzzle together when a rather ugly looking creature with horns reached for the tray in front of Javelin; it was his food tray the guards must have given him. The beast looked horrific, but he was hungry and wasn't about to let some over grown bull take his lunch, or was it supper he didn't know, but he snatched it. This made the creature very upset and started screaming in some strange primitive language. Just then an almost sinister voice said softly.

"You'd best let him have it, his kind is known to tear a man apart for food." javelin let go and the thing devoured his food to nothing and went to the other side of the cell.

"You really don't know pick fights do you?"

"No, I know how but I had never seen one of those before, but thanks for your help, uh who are you?" Javelin felt so vulnerable and weak but did his best to hide it with a plain face. But the strange man didn't seem to notice. He wore a cloak that concealed his face.

"The names Setherin, Seth for short. How in the world did you find your way into this place and even got tied, it takes a lot to get tied. And look at you, you're not even eighteen by the look of ya, you're dressed like a farmer, part elf and do I smell roses? You'd probably be judged as a human if it wasn't for your ears and height" Javelin didn't like to be able to read like this.

"I'm Javelin and I'm not sure why I'm here. I just chased and caught the thief who stole my uncle's coins. It was very confusing, they think I just robbed and beat that old man. I thought that he was the thief, but I just don't know" this seemed to be some kind of joke because all the other prisoners fell on the floor laughing

"Yea I tried that one too on my first trial, but I prefer the `oh the wizards made me do it'" but others just shook their heads. Then Seth said

"Don't listen to them javelin they just can't say the same. I'm in because I stole two horses and a stupid rock. They caught me on my way out of town. You look hungry, here you can have the rest of mine" Javelin took the food graciously and ate while Seth explained his story. After a few hours the two quickly became friends, telling stories or just telling about their families. Seth explained that he had once been married but she lost interest in him later on in life. This reminded javelin about blade, a local girl who his eye had caught on. She sometimes visited the farm saying that they needed wheat or to borrow a tool just to see him. And he did the same for her but strangely got lost in her home and just had to stay until he could remember his way home. Eventually she found someone else and forgot about him completely. While in this daze javelin suddenly came to realize that that the guard had come for him. And he was now being dragged down to the back room by his arm which had been unbound. It wasn't that long of a walk, being as the prison was small, due to the small town it was in. Once at the end of the cells the two went through a large creaky door that made Javelins hair stick up. Inside were a desk and a pile of chains and loads of papers. A voice came up from the desk.

"Step forward and state your name, and hurry up about it we don't have all day"

"My name is Javelin" the man began to write.

"Homeland"

"Valen" the man asked a few more questions then said.

"You have been sentenced to slavery for the rest of your life unless freed by your master. The reason for murder of….."

"What?! I didn't kill anyone I just--".

"Save it kid, I've heard that one a million times and it hasn't worked yet. There's a long list of people who need to be sentenced today and I can guarantee that they'd all say the same thing if they just got a chance." This was the one thing that javelin felt was wrong about the Aradian justice system, if someone thought you were guilty and you had at least three whiteness that agreed, than you _were_. He had always expressed his opinion about this to any one who would listen in hope of talking to the right number of the right people to some how have it changed. Javelin knew that this was never going to happen and he had one too many people tell him so. Once he almost even got put in prison for treason when he tried to protest this publicly but his sly personality somehow managed to weasel his way out of it. This time however, he didn't see that happening again.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, quiver hand me that telescope"

"Yea, hold on" searching her pouches quiver recovered her telescope and handed it to lance. "Hum, I still don't see them. Are you sure you gave them the right directions, they might be lost" with a grin he handed the scope back to her.

"They'll be here probably found something on the way, you know Jem, he has to check every thing for a trap." Quiver had long slick gray hair, and the most beautiful elven eyes that made even ogres turn their heads for a second glance. She wore a green hooded cloak lined with black, the bottom muddy from the swamp water and tattered from excess use in battle and . On her head she wore a faded, red hat with a feather in it symbolizing an archer. She kept her bow on her back and a short single handed sword with her quiver at her hip and sat knelt down on her knee. She was without a doubt the most beautiful thing Lance's human eyes had ever laid glance upon.

Lance, a spearman wore all black except for his hair which was a strange brown color with patches of gray in the front that he called light blond. He kept a dagger and sword on his belt and his spear in hand; his beard was shaved to a goatee. His face handsome yet scarred on the left side from an arrow shot that just barley missed killing him. Lance never carried a shield preferring the mobility of just a spear.

"See, look right there by the forest line here they come" coming out of the thick dark forest the three of them could be seen just pacing along towards the gates.

Jumping down from his post on the tower, Lance climbed down the stairs to the stables and opened the gates, and by the time he got down the stairs Jem and Crystal had already reached the stable. Hilt who fell back to give to give the two some time alone soon caught up and closed the massive steal gates.

Gunthor keep was cleverly built on a hill by a river bend putting a natural mote on two sides and huge walls on the others. It was built to hold access trade goods and shelter weary travelers for a small fee, but soon generals noticed the strategic advantage of the keep and put in military buildings ands troops, and it became a most important fallback position for king gunthor's troops.

"Sorry we took so long, we found a few things on the way that looked suspicious" Hilt said as he dismounted his horse. Quiver smiled and raised an eyebrow in an 'I told you so' look towards lance.

Lance, catching his breath asked. "So what's out there that's making the smoke? Dragon fire? Goblin war-fire?"

Although he knew lance was serious Jem couldn't resist a display of his humor. He stood up strait knelt his head in a solemn manor and said. "Ok I'm going to tell you, but you'd better sit down. Alright, after traveling two miles into the forest we saw it, it was horrible. I couldn't even bare to look at it for too long." noticing that he had lance going, he began to breath harder and shiver. "It…it…it was… A…a…c…ccamp ffire!" Jem fell over laughing hysterically.

Shaking his head and trying to catch his breath from his burst of laughter, lance said. "One can always anticipate something like that from a wizard such as you."

Jem was rather tall for a human though nobody feared him because of his size, rather his powerful skills as a wizard. He wore long red robes that pointed out his level of magic ability. His six foot staff never left his hand. He had black and gray hair even though he was only thirty seven years old. His robes were covered with pockets containing sulfur, spell scrolls, and other magical items. Jem was obsessed with magic and there was only one thing he loved more than it, Crystal.

She was a more experienced wizard. Wearing gray robes she was a foot shorter than Jem. Her staff was thinner and shorter than Jem's but it was clear that it had been used very much. The two had been in love since the day they met, but they had sworn their lives to the circle. The circle was their bondage to each other, it meant that they were equal to one another and that one member's problem was the entire groups' problem. The circle consisted of two wizards, Jem and Crystal, an archer, quiver, a spearman, lance, and hilt, a bulky swordsman.

Hilt was found by the circle ten years ago dieing holding a sword in each hand. Though they know very little of his history they know he was part dwarf and was kidnapped from his village as a child by barbarians who raised him. The circle members had to teach him the common language and civilize him the best they could. Hilt is what people would call monstrously well built. He usually doesn't wear a shirt unless he absolutely had to. Do to his huge arms and broad shoulders it would stretch and easily tare. People often stared in awe as he walked past, surpassingly he was very misunderstood he wasn't a rough brute, he was as gentle and faithful as could be. He sometimes thought that his torn pants and two humongous swords contributed to this but never really did much to change it. His hair was completely shaved off but he had a short black beard that he kept well groomed and as his like barbarian foster parents taught him it was more important to him than almost anything.


	3. Chapter 3

As Javelin boarded the slave ship he wondered what his uncle and aunt were thinking. He hadn't even had a chance to find his uncle and explain that he probably wouldn't see him again. Why they were taking a ship was beyond him, why go by sea when they could have gone by land? Over a week long journey on ship, when tit could be few hours on foot. Earlier he over heard two men talking about goblin invasion attacks this also made the thought of going by ship seen foolish and a waist if this ship was just carrying slaves then what difference would it make if they were killed?. He asked himself.

"How could all of this have happened? How could everything go the way it to this in just one day?" But before he could find the answer they reached their destination, Alterdusk.

The master of this castle was sir gage, a knight who apparently didn't like slackers, because he immediately had Javelin loading lumber onto and barrels off of the ship. This went on for a week until one day another slave decided that he deserved Javelins lunch more than javelin, they were out side of the armory when the man snatched a sword from the nearby building. Javelin quickly found a sharp stick to defend himself with. When the fighting was over the stick was lodged in the other slave's ribs. A guard wearing red and black robes and armor approached the now eighteen year old man with caution said very distinctly.

"Upon hearing of this incident, Sir Gage has requested your presence immediately in his private quarters in the fortress Mr. Javelin." He had never been addressed as_ Mr._ Javelin before though the guard spoke so formally out of respect, he was undoubtedly being summoned for his execution. Javelin was scared to death, but he remained calm and proceeded to his destination with the guard as his escort.

As the two walked towards their destination, there was a complete silence until the guard finally cracked. "Ok javelin, I don't believe this, how in the world did you manage to that? That man was three times as big as you ands was armed with a sword, are you some kind of assassin?" javelin thought that the man was kidding until he saw the look in his eyes, he was afraid.

"No, far from it, I just got lucky, that's all." This apparently wasn't very convincing because the man persisted on knowing more, his attack style, weapon of choice, even where he learned to fight, none of his answers satisfied him so just kept quiet

The fortress was a magnificent sight; the huge walls seemed to be impenetrable with its eight towers on the corners and sides. To the left of the gate was a statue of Gora, the god of war and conflict. Beside the huge figure stood two well built guards talking about their families. As Javelin approached along with his escort the men stood erect and asked with a very deep voice.

"What is it?"

"I'm bringing a slave to counsel with Sir Gage, his name is javelin." he said this with what seemed like pride. The men looked at each other, paused, then stepped aside, giving javelin a stern look. As he walked past he heard one of them say.

"That can't be the one who did it, he's so scrawny." He wanted to show the man what he thought of _him_ but it didn't seem like the most intelligent thing to do give his current situation so he kept his mouth shut. The set up of the building was rather simple and easy to find your way around. After a few turns the came upon a round doorway with a cloth in front of it. When they entered the room they found sir gage looking at a map with wooden figures on it representing the different army's and their current positions. He looked up and with a disturbing smile said.

"Leave us." as the messenger left the two, the massive general said in a twisted voice.

"Have a seat Javelin". The seat was cold like the rest of the room, which was odd being as it was summer. Out of nowhere the man said.

"You know, I could have you executed, have your head on my desk by dawn for your actions. But I have a better use for you. I'll make a deal with you, you fight in my army and ill give you your freedom in one year, given you don't kill any more of my of my men, what do you think?" Even though he was sure to die either way, Javelin, without hesitation agreed.

It wasn't even an hour before javelin was being loaded into a war ship called the exodus on its way to a place called Gunthor. On board were about ten passengers and a crew of about twenty sailors. Though there were few people on board the mighty vessel, the ship itself was rather large; it had the capacity to held at least a hundred men easily. The number of people was perfectly fine with Javelin; he didn't like large amounts of people in a small place. Above all the compartments of the ship the mess hall was his favorite. There he would talk to butch, the head chief. He often gave Javelin extra helpings of meal of the day. On the seventh day of the voyage javelin and butch were the only people in the mess hall accept for a few soldiers finishing their lunch. Javelin asked. "Why do you think that we're taking a ship to Gunthor? Wouldn't it be faster and cheaper to go by foot?"

"Well Aradnia has almost complete control of this part of the sea, perhaps it is safer. You are quite valuable to sir gage."

"But he was quite eager to get strait to the battle zone, and besides we could already be there by now on foot, but this was we still have about another week. There must be something more to this." suddenly the two heard explosions coming from outside the ship. Than something blasted through the wall and went out the other side creating a hole in the side of the ship. The two other men, one now missing half a leg shouted for butch and javelin to

"Get down!" they could hear shouts of the captain and his first mate issuing orders.

"We're under attack! Load the cannons, all hands to your battle positions! Aim, fire!" more explosions, this time they were louder and the ship didn't shake as much.

"We need to get on deck, the ships taking on water" The three that could walk ran down the hall and up the stairs to the deck where they could see the other ship that was firing on them. Javelin then noticed that the other ship was occupied by little, green, monstrous goblins. Their ship was shorter and wider than the exodus. Another cannon ball went whizzing by hitting one of the crew members, sending what was left of him over board. It was only a matter of time before the other ship was sunk, the exodus was well built and had twice as many cannons compared to the crudely built goblin war ship, it was barely holding together in the first place. Though the exodus prevailed it still took quite a bit of damage. Out of the 20 crew members only 13 remained and 3 soldiers were either dead or missing. But the captain after taking account of their loss's he ordered the sails dropped and the anchor rose.

Preceding the attack butch looked to javelin and asked.

"So, what do you think of life on the sea?" Javelin looked at the holes in the ship, then at the wounded sailors to their left and said.

"Well, the danger, cramped quarters, and smell is alright but it's the food that really gets me"

With that the two just laughed for ten minuets strait.


	4. Chapter 4

Lance and Jem were discussing goblin troop movements at a table in their quarters while across the room crystal, quiver, and hit were arguing over whether it was the dragon or the egg that came first, when came a knock at the door. When Hilt opened the door a hysterical messenger bolted inside to talk to Lance.

"There's been an attack on the exodus! Witnesses from the shore noticed cannon fire and went outside to find the ship engaging a goblin war ship. The ship was carrying the usual supplies and a slave from Alterdusk. Sir Gage sent a messenger who said the slave was to join you due to his amazing fighting skills"

Lance stood up and asked "Is the ship o.k.?"

"Yes they were delayed but should be here in about five days"

Quiver, with a worried look on her face said. "And what of the slave, who is to join us, is he alright?"

"The slave and all the other cargo were not damaged at all accept for a few soldiers and crew members, according to captain corsanna."

Lance dismissed the tired man and turned to his comrades. Jem said "Crystal, perhaps we should consult with the oracle, I'm getting a strange feeling about this slave."

Crystal agreed and vent into the other room to meditate then transport themselves to Endoah.

Hilt said. "Well, at least this 'slave' is ok, right?"

Lance looked rather frustrated but said "They should have told us ahead of time that he was coming so we could have prepared for his arrival, none the less we'll welcome him and try to make him feel at home."

The next day Jem and Crystal teleported to the beautiful continent of Endoah to talk to the oracle, a mystical and powerful being who decides who is to be a wizard and what kind they are fire, water, wind, earth, life, and death. The oracle is neither a man nor a woman, nor is he an elf, human, goblin, or any other race. Jem told Lance that they should be back in a day or two, depending on how the journey goes.

During the next three days Quiver, Lance, and Hilt tried to find armor and rations for the new-comer. This proved to be easier than they had anticipated. The messenger from Alterdusk had a list of armor sizes and weapon preferences and a cart of rations for every one posted at the fortress. Inside the cart was also upon lances request two spears made of black elven pine the strongest kind of wood on Farren and lances favorite, white steel points that were almost unbreakable. Quiver got two hundred arrows made of the lightest wood available, Hilt got a gigantic sword that took up half the weight capacity of the cart, finally Jem and Crystal received a bag of varied spell components that quiver put in their room being careful not to disturb the salt circle that enables them to return home safely. Hilt cleared out their storage room and placed the slave's belongings inside along with his bed that he gave.

At the end of the day lance said. "I think that's every thing, its interesting that he's a spearman like me."

Hilt laughed "Maybe you've got some competition Lance." Quiver just shook her head.

"I wouldn't see it as competition more of a challenge perhaps. They say the kids pretty good, killed a man with a sword when all he had was a stick. Either way he'll be a good addition to our circle."


	5. Chapter 5

Meanwhile on Endoah, Jem and Crystal had just finished their counsel with the oracle, deep in the forest, far from civilization.

Crystal was waiting outside the temple when Jem came out with a smile. She asked "What did it say?"

"It said that he is to use magic in his future and could be a very powerful wizard someday and will bring order to Farren, it also said that should he ask, we may train him. What did it tell you?"

" The oracle told me that he is to decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of people he will be a powerful and dangerous wizard and that time will tell weather he is to be trained and by who. He said that thousands shall die by his hand, that he shall walk a very dark path. I don't like the looks of this, Jem; he's dangerous let's just go home."

"As the oracle said, time will tell, my love. I too, agree, we should go home."


	6. Chapter 6

"Javelin, come on. You can see the shore." butch said he always gets excited when they reach the shore, but javelin was excited as well even though from here on out he was part of the aradian army and constantly under the threat of death. It was true, they could see the shore, and it was beautiful. They could also see several men waiting for them to reach the welcoming sand, which would be in just a few minutes.

"Well butch, it was mice meeting you perhaps we'll meet again."

"I have no doubt that we will, good luck on the battle field, and don't be so nervous it's not as bad as you think. See ya, kid." With those last few words he handed javelin a small package and went back down below deck. The ship was now anchored and unloading. Javelin and the other soldiers walked off the deck and onto the hot sand. A man wearing black looked around at all the people getting off and shouted. "Who here goes by the name javelin?"

Surprised that they knew his name already, he walked up to the man, and said "That would be me sir."

The man looked disappointed but said. "Ah, we've been waiting for you my name's lance, come with me. The two walked about half a mile towards the forest when he said. "So you're the one that killed the guy with a stick, huh"

"You could say that, I mean he was all fat and no mussel, I'm sure if he was a little stronger he could have killed _me_. I thought we were going to some place called Gunthor not a forest."

Lance didn't know what to think of this young man, he was expecting a Great War hero. The kid had to be scared out of his mind, lance knew he was, yet he didn't show it, he looked like a child in a cradle, without a care in the world.

"The keep is on the other side of the forest, it shouldn't even be half a mile away from here. We have your uniform and weapon in our quarters."

The keep looked pretty basic compared to Alterdusk; it was shaped like an "x" with guard towers on all the corners of the points. Lance didn't even have to signal the guards to open the gates; they just opened once they got within twenty feet of them. Javelin found this odd, especially this close to the south shore and so close Enzic, the home of that goblin war ship that they encountered earlier. When they made it to the keep, the red sun was setting soon t obey followed by the blue one. Inside there were lots of people, mostly troops and house keepers, but there were a few people just trying to find a place sleep for the night and a hot meal. The two of them went around a corner to a stairway that took them up to a hall way with several paintings of king Gunthor at different ages. As they walked down the hall way they passed a door every twenty feet. Some of the doors had light coming from the inside, others had strange poofing and popping sounds and flashes of lights. Upon noticing javelins curiosity of the events lance said,

"We have quite a verity of soldiers in our army, javelin. Some, more _magical _than others."

Javelin suddenly became very excited; he was in the presence of wizards! He couldn't believe it; this was the closest he had been to magic in nearly ten years.

"Will I be able to meet one of these 'magical' soldiers?"

"Yes, two actually, they should be back by now. They went to Endoah for some reason to see the oracle. I don't know very much about all that hibity bibity; accept that it makes a very powerful weapon. Ah, here we are, go on inside." The two had reached a door with a circle inside a six pointed star. As javelin opened the door he could here voices and laughter coming from inside. As he walked inside the talking stopped. A slender man and woman holding hands, a humongous bald man, and an absolutely unexplainably beautiful elfish woman were all looking at him. The huge man suddenly jumped up and bolted towards him an apparent rage, javelin tried to dodge the man who was surely going to crush him with his bare hands, but it was too late he was engaged in a body crushing bear hug. Lance quickly handled the situation pulling him off.

He said "Sorry about hilt, he may look like a monster but his heart is even bigger than his flex. That's Jem and Crystal in the chair over there, let's just say, they have a magical relationship, and that's Quiver, the amazingly beautiful young woman standing to your right." Quiver blushed and turned her head, hiding her face but exposing her elf ears. This was the first elf that javelin had ever seen besides himself.

Javelin couldn't help himself speaking out. "You're an elf! That's amazing; I'm only two thirds elves but is still interesting to meet another."

She turned her head back towards him and asked. "Where are you from, javelin? I can't identify your accent." She seemed to be only remotely interested in his story.

"I'm from Valin; I doubt you've ever heard of it. Its just south of the Aradian border, mostly farmland. How about you guys?"

Quiver was first to answer. "I'm from Sicila on Endoah; I lived there for about fifteen years then came here to fight the war."

Jem was next. "I was born on the Crosio islands, but due to the constant fighting, my family moved to Neshan when I was about four for about two months, then to Endoah where I met quiver, she and I came to Aradnia in hope of putting our skills to work."

Crystal decided that it was her turn. "I'm from boric, once I learned how to use my magic I was soon engaged in a battle with a daring young wizard of whom I couldn't destroy due to my attraction to him so instead I switched sides to fight along side him." With that she turned to Jem and smiled.

Lance's voice was heard next. "I was born in Talist, my stories quite simple really. I joined the Aradian military and eventually wound up here."

Lance seemed very upset after he told his story, he wasn't sure but javelin believed that wasn't telling the whole story. Before he could ask about it, lance continued.

"As for hilt, were not sure where he was born, but when he was a child he was kidnapped by a barbarian tribe where we found him undergoing torture. We rescued him and tried to educate him and teach him some manors but as you found out, they haven't really set in yet."

Jem noticed javelins confusion. "were a special group selected by our talents ,called the circle, pretty much all we do is help defend what ever fortress we are assigned to, maybe do a few other things in the side. Like rescuing damsels in distress, assonate wizard lords with the power to crush your brain just by considering what to eat for breakfast. You know, the little stuff."

Quiver realized that something was wrong with lance turned to javelin and said. "You must have had a very trying day, javelin I'll show you your room."

The room was small, the humongous bed taking up the majority of the space. There was a stand and a few shelves for personal belongings. And there was a closet for armor and weapons. Javelin quickly went to sleep; he HAD had a trying day and was very nerves about being in a _special_ group of ruthless warriors.

Javelin slept quite well for about half an hour, but he was awoken by the sound of someone crying. He got dressed and opened his door a crack to see what was happening. What he saw was quiver holding lance in a chair while he cried his eyes out.

"It's alright lance, it wasn't your fault." The two of them were the only people in the room, every one else must have gone to sleep. Why was this grown man crying like a child who lost his way?

"Why'd they have to die? Those filthy beasts, of all the people of all the villages, why'd it have to be them?" Quiver must have had to do this a lot with lance for she seemed to know exactly how to help him.


	7. Chapter 7

Zarix was running out of breath, he wasn't very fond of the anti-magic barrier that protected this part of the tower, but he had to hurry. A transportation spell would surly erase him from existence in this place. After jumping over books, knocking countless people down, and dodging just about every other obstacle that could possibly get into his way, he finally made his way to the head wizard's quarters. It was there that Zarix found Quaint, the most powerful and wisest of all the wizards on Farren. He busted through the door without even knocking or addressing himself. This got Quality's attention rather quickly, who was trying to learn a very complex spell. The old man said in a faint yet powerful voice. "What is the meaning of this disorder, Zarix? I've been trying to learn this spell for nearly a week!"

"It's the zodiak stone, sir. The goblins launched an attack on sable just a few hours ago. The messenger was on dragon-back so it took very little time to get here. They said that they wouldn't be able to hold of the attack much longer and that we should send any spare troops out to help"

"Damn! I warned them, I told them that having that blasted thing so close to the border was suicide, but oh, no, they'd never find it there. I despise the boric government, with all those mad men in charge, no one is safe. We cannot allow the goblins to take that fortress, if they get that stone, it's all over. Yet, by the time we get anyone up there it'll be too late. They could have already found the stone by now. This war is just impossible, they have more resources, more land, higher population, there even biologically superior to our race, and now they might even have the one thing that holds them back, that gives us an advantage, magic. I'm afraid there's nothing we can do."

Zarix decided to give _Quaith_ advice this time. "What if we sent the circle? They could probably do something."

Quaith was surprised that Zarix wasn't just accepting his word. "By the time they got there they will have pillaged the fortress and have left to do what ever they were planning. But perhaps they could track them and retrieve the stone. Yes, then they would be eliminating two threats at once. They would destroy the army and stop them from learning that spell. I'll see what I can do but it's probably too late."


	8. Chapter 8

Arrows were coming from everywhere; all Linnik could see were arrows, blood, and goblins. The siege had been going on for about four hours. Sable was about to fall. He paced up and down the main wall dodging arrows looking for any goblins that made it up their ladders. So far he had killed countless goblins and even a few ogres. He was scared to death, but he knew he was going to die today so he decided that he was going to kill as many of those mindless creatures as he could before the end.

Before Linnik could warn the other soldiers on the wall, the bombarding began. Goblin catapults began to let loose the furry they possessed. Due to the fact that the stone structure was crumbling beneath his feet, he decided that it was time to abandon the wall. Down in the lower levels of the keep, the brass and wooden gates were being demolished by battering rams from the outside, where three thousand war hungry goblins were waiting to devour the seventy men, women, and children. Linnik shouted to the soldiers near the wall to get back, because there were parts of the wall falling down above them. One piece fell not even four feet from him, crushing a man running beside him. Blood splattered all over Linnik. He found the man's bow near by, knocked an arrow and waited under a fallen pillar, just inside the gate. General Vothic ordered what men he could find to join Linnik and wait for the order to release the gate.

"General, the southern wall has fallen."

"Release the gate, lets show them just what were made of boys!" with that the gates flew open so fast that the men holding it had no chance to arm themselves before they were shredded to pieces.

"This is it, this is how I die." was the only thing going through linnik's mind while he shot arrow and drew his sword. With him were five other men who followed him into battle. The goblins skin was rather strong but very soft on the inside; this made them easier to kill than humans. Their numbers were countless. The man beside him was the first to die, and very quickly. The four men fought well at first until more and more of the foul creatures surrounded them. His comrades too died after killing all they could. Alone Linnik couldn't fight the entire goblin army but he wouldn't go down before he fought his fiercest battle. He could suddenly feel an energy he had never felt before. He began to swing his sword faster and dodge and counter more of their swings. He felt as if he could destroy anything that came through that gate. Even when he was hit several times he didn't stop, he never even felt the pain. One after another he killed them, to Linnik, the goblins were just weeds in the way of a flower, so he went through them like they were weeds. He was killing them so fast he couldn't count how many he was taking down. A golden dragon could have come at Linnik and he wouldn't stop. He didn't understand how he was doing this and he tried not to think about it, in fear that he would loose the extraordinary power. He then thought that perhaps the god Gora had somehow done this, but why? Linnik was cutting through the creatures, effortlessly, cutting them in half with out even trying. It was then that he heard a voice but saw no one around, it said.

"You are brave, Linnik, even brave enough to meet the standards of Gora. In fact you've made him proud. However you will die today by the hand of your enemy. Your actions now until your death shall determine your fate after death, so choose your actions wisely, my child. In the end I shall have the honor to be in your presence. Good luck brave one, for you are the last of your army."

Linnik could do only one thing, he let out a battle cry so loud it hurt his ears and made the enemy even more cautious. The energy soon dampened and then Linnik felt it, it was like an icicle going through his back. He fell down to the ground. Instead of tearing their last victim to pieces the goblins just stood back in fear and watched the warrior die, they were afraid of him. He could feel he's body go numb, and then everything got blurrier and blurrier until he saw nothing. The noises around him were blending until all he heard was a hum, then nothing. He spent his last moments alive, thinking about the last thing he heard before he died. "Dems fund da zerdaik stone, badel over, weee woun!"


	9. Chapter 9

It was very dark when Quaith awoke; he felt horrible emptiness inside him. He knew that it was too late to save sable, the last man had fallen. The felling was terrible enough to prevent him from going back to sleep. Instead, he cast a spell to light his room and began to write a message to be sent to Gunthor. Quaith couldn't believe that those fools in Boric would place such an important artifact that gives us our only advantage in his war, so close to goblin territory. They had to have known the goblins would find it there. It was the best place in Boric to hide it, but if they would have given it to Aradnia, it would be safe in the wizard high order. "This hostility is so pointless, if we weren't fighting, we could have stopped this before it even happened!" He stayed up for hours, writing the letter, thinking of how he could stop this goblin problem before it got any worse.

Before his guest could even knock on the door, Quaith knew she was there. "Come in, the door isn't locked." After hesitating for a moment, the slender woman walked in, carrying a dark blue box the size of her hand. She handed the box to him and said.

"My apologies master, for interrupting you, but this just came in. It was teleported from Tygres just a moment ago. Lord Neshic has offered to teach your earth magic classes tomorrow and Lord Gildred can take you fire magic class. What should I tell them?"

"Give Lord Neshic my thanks for his offer, he is free to do so, as it would be greatly appreciated, but tell Neshic 'thanks, but no thanks'. That man is insane and would probably teach them to burn the entire tower down to ashes: I'll teach that class." Quaith noticed the woman was still looking at him instead of rushing off to obey his orders so he instinctively asked. "Is there something more you wish to address miss? …."

"Um… yes, I was wondering if you could help me with a problem." Quaith was tired, but this must be important.

"Well of course, I'll do what I can. Please, sit. Now, what seems to be the problem?"

"I've felt a strange feeling over the past few months. At first I ignored it thinking it was just my mind adjusting to magic like you said it would, but it's persistently gotten worse each day. When you were teaching you said that for a few weeks after I cast my first spell, I would this way. The way you described it seemed much less painful exhausting. Am I just suffering from mana burn or is something wrong with me, I feel like something bad is happening and that it's going to get worse." It was clear that the woman was in pain. She looked like she hadn't slept for a very long time. This was going to be a long night.

"Where do you feel the pain?"

"It's difficult to explain. I feel the pain all over but its nowhere on my body." Quaith knew exactly what it was, but he was amazed that it would be happening to a wizard so young and inexperienced such as her.

"The pain you feel is your souls."

"But I thought that your soul couldn't be harmed."

"Your soul can be injured, but that's not what's happening to you."

"Then what is happening to me? You're not making sense." This was going to be a long night indeed.

"The gods are fighting. They have been for about a year. There is something that they all want but they can't decide who gets it, so there fighting over it. What you're feeling is the tension between them. I feel the same thing you do, and so do other wizards. Usually, only wizards who use more than one kind of magic feel it, but sometimes wizards with a lot of magical potential feel it. Some feel it in different ways; they might have strange dreams, and cast spells without knowing it, get a bloody nose, or just get a headache. You shouldn't be worried about it though your body will eventually learn to ignore the pain. Until then, take a sip of this potion when ever you feel it" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a half empty white vile and handed it to her.

"What do you think the gods are fighting over? It must be something very rare and powerful."

"The question isn't _what _they are fighting over but _who_ and _why_? I believe that they are fighting over a person who hasn't become a wizard yet could be a very powerful and influential one someday. And I think that you may have something to do with it, but that's just an old mans belief so don't listen to me." Quaith couldn't keep his eyes open for much longer and this student needed her rest so he decided to end the conversation for the time being. "Do you think you'll be OK for the night? If so, then I'll ask that you come back in a few days so I can see how this is progressing." The woman seemed sad to have to leave so soon, but she agreed, thanked him for his help, and went off to put Quaith's orders into effect. He was just about to go to sleep when he remembered the package the woman had given him. He opened the box to find a stone with a dragon carved into it. He placed it on his desk and cast a spell that released magical energy inside the stone that created an image. A man in bright red robes with a beard down his chest appeared on his desk. It was a smaller image of the real thing, about a foot tall. This was the royal sage of the boric kingdom. He was one of the only members of the royal counsel who stood against putting the zodiak stone in Sable. After a few seconds the image began to talk and move.

"Greetings my friend, I have important information for you. As you probably already know, you and I were correct; the goblins had spies near the coast. They knew the stone was there for some time now; they've been gathering forces, waiting for the precise time to attack. So far I have learned little about this army with the stone. I do however know that shortly after they took Sable, our scouts report finding two separate paths they took, this means that they probably split up to confuse us. I'll need you to send me what information you have so I fully understand the whole situation and make the wisest decisions. We must stop this before it gets worse I'm guessing that you're going to send your "circle" up here so I'll prepare for their arrival, send them to Tygres. Goodbye for now." The image then faded and the stone's carving faded.

"Finally, sleep!" He got into bed and passed out before he could even pull the blanket over himself.


	10. Chapter 10

Javelin was deep in sleep, he was having a very powerful dream. He dreamed of a wizard who was so powerful that by the snap of a finger he could strip the life out of someone and turn them into a zombie. He had dreamed of this man before, many times, but never like this, never so brutal. In the other dreams, the man saved lives, made many friends, even resurrected people who had died. What scared javelin the most about this dream was that he liked this side of the wizard more than the gentle side. He never told anyone about the dreams. Mainly because he would either be placed in mental asylum or be killed. He even tended not to think about the dreams, but when he did he usually got a head ache that lasted for a week or something happened to distract his concentration. At the end of the dream, he was awoken, not by the shouts of Jem trying to get him ready, but the end of the dream. He saw the man on the balcony of a black castle shouting at the sky in anger. In the man's rage his cloaks hood came down revealing his face for the first time, it was Javelins.

"Hey! Javelin, get up! We've got news from lord Quaith!" The sun hadn't even begun to rise and yet everyone was up, getting their belongings together. Javelin jumped out of bed and started gathering his weapons and rations. Lance and hilt were looking at a large piece of paper very intensely under a candle which lighted the whole room. Either Jem or Crystal had apparently cast a spell to light the bedrooms, because as bright as day inside but outside, it was pitch black except for the torches beside all the doors. Quiver was nowhere to be found. Half dressed javelin walked out to the table beside lance and hilt, which had cleared very quickly. "Lance, what's going on? Is the village under attack? What do I need to be doing?"

Lance looked up and said happily. "The wizard high priest has given us orders. In northeast boric, an army of goblins have attacked sable. He wants us to go and track them down and retrieve the zodiak stone. Finally, some real action! Gather you things we'll be on our way in half an hour."

It wasn't long before they were on horseback, riding to the dragon temple. . There they would get three dragons to fly them to boric. If they would go the whole way on horseback, it would take almost a month, but on dragon back they would be there in two days. By the time they left, it was light enough outside to see without candles or magic. Javelin was excited about riding a dragon. He had only ever seen one in his life; he was plowing the fields when he saw it soaring through the sky faster than an arrow. It was only a blur that he remembered, but it stayed with him his whole life. The horse he was riding was gray with black patches around her face. She didn't really give him any trouble as long as he scratched behind her ears every now and then. While they were riding along the heavily traveled road, they went past several houses. Something that Javelin couldn't pick out that was odd about these houses. It wasn't until they passed through a small village when it hit him; these houses were abandoned, some burned or looted years ago. The dragons were waiting south of Gunthor so it felt wrong to be going south when they had such a long way north to go. The further south the quiet group went, the more destruction they saw yet no one seemed to be bothered by it.

When Javelin saw the dragon temple, he thought he was dreaming. It seemed very ironic to have such a beautiful building surrounded by the ruins of goblin attacks. The temple was milk-white marble with polished bronze dragon statues all over. On the door there was a painting of a huge blue dragon holding a heart in one hand and broken sword in the other. As they waited outside for the dragons to come out, Lance stared at the rubble around him while quiver, holding his arm stared at the dragon painting. Jem and Crystal thought about the magic used to erect the statues while hilt imagined how much fun it would be to nock it down. They waited for about ten minutes before their dragons came out. They were green and about thirty feet long from head to tail. Lance told javelin that these were Endoahian broad wings, the fastest dragons alive. For being one of the most feared creatures in Farren, these dragons were very quiet and well groomed. The care taker who brought them out had very dark skin and had many burn scars. Lance handed him the paper from lord Quaith which proved that explained what was going on. He never said anything, just nodded, gave lance the paper back, and walked back inside.

Quiver was the first to say a word. "There so beautiful, even the gods would be impressed." Lance answered

"Yes, but I can only think of one thing that is more beautiful, and that would be you." Quiver just smiled and rolled her eyes. "And for one as beautiful as you, we shouldn't even let the ground be blessed to have your feet touch it." He picked her up and carried her to the dragons, and asked. "So which one do you think is the most beautiful, Quiver? Titian, Ruby, or Valium?" After she was calm enough to speak she answered,

"Well, they're all quite impressive; I don't know it's quite hard to decide, really." Ruby, which Javelin thought was the ugliest of the group, lowered its head in shame. "But I think it's rather obvious that Ruby…… is the most beautiful." Ruby jumped up, shot a ball of blue flame into the air and ran up to Quiver, and started licking her face. "Oh, you know I'd always pick you Ruby. Good girl!" She rubbed Ruby's neck and smiled. The dragon knew her, which meant that this group must use these dragons on a regular basis. Finally after Ruby was sure Quivers face was licked clean hilt said.

"O.K. then, being as you must be carried lets let the dragon carry her to Boric." Quiver blushed and hopped onto Ruby's back which had a saddle that had two seats on it. Lance sat behind Quiver so she could direct Ruby t where to go. Jem looked up at the smallest and most beautiful dragon and said.

"Are you ready Valium? Let's get going!" He climbed onto the creatures back and tied his staff to his back, then helped Crystal on. Finally hilt walked to titian, the biggest of the three, and stroked his neck. He looked at javelin and asked.

"So, what do you think about this javelin kid? Do you think he could ride too?" The huge dragon waked up to javelin. Slowly, he examined the young man, nudged his in the shoulder with his nose, and stared strait into his eyes. The gaze was hypnotizing, but after two or three minutes, it nodded its head. "That means that he trusts you. It's pretty impressive, it usually takes a lot longer to gain a dragons trust. Here, hop on and make sure your belongings are tied to your back tightly, or else you'll never see them again." Javelin climbed up onto its back and tugged at his backpack and shook his spear to be sure it was on tight, after all, a spear like that costs three hundred gold coins, enough to feed half a village. Surprisingly, the seat was rather comfortable and fit him well. Lance turned around and asked.

"Is every one ready?….. Ok then, let get going." Quiver whispered something into Ruby's ear and she spread her wings and lifted off the ground, creating a gust that blew leaves twenty feet away. Valium was next to rise. Once the others were circling around in the sky, hilt whispered their destination into Titian's ear. He turned around and said. "Hold on, it's a little bit rough when were just lifting off."

The dragon's wings spread out to about forty feet and began flapping up and down until they lifted up off the ground. Javelin was so excited, he speechless. Everything seemed so small; the huge dragon temple looked like it could be held in his hand. The view was indescribable; he could see the whole way back to Gunthor. Hilt shouted.

"Look, over there!" He pointed to the right. They could see water, but the ocean was to their right, it made no sense, But Hilt quickly explained. "That's the Aradian Sea; it's a gulf that goes from the south coast up to the capital city. The Crosic Sea is on the other side. If you look closely to the north, you can see Alterdusk." It was true, he could only make out a small dot but it was Alterdusk for sure. "So what happened, Javelin? How in the world did a kid like you wind up as a slave in the military? If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine but were going to be saving each others lives and it'd be nice to know who I'm working with" Javelin didn't really feel like talking about it but hilt was right, he needed to know.

"Well, it all started when my uncle sent me to the market to get farming tools…." Javelin told hilt the whole story. And by the time he was finished, they had flown past Alterdusk and could see the capital city to their right. By then, it was getting dark so Lance signaled the others to land near a stream, to rest for the night.

The stream was about four feet wide and ran as far as the eye could see. The water was very cold and tasted almost as good as wine due to the immense heat. Javelin was used to the heat, they were only a short distance from Valin, and so it seemed like home. The weather in the south west was much cooler than in the middle of Arith, with the equator running almost strait over the Boric-Aradnia border. With the smell of Aradian dark wood burning and the stream rushing east, it seemed a lot like Valin. Javelin knew it would be hard, flying past his homeland without even saying a word to his family who didn't even know he had gone. He wondered what they thought happened to him. "They probably think I ran off with the money or was kidnapped, possibly even killed. But hay, who knows, I'll probably wind up dead any way, so at least they'll be thinking the right thing." The six of them set up camp quickly and were fed, clean, and asleep in no time at all. They slept soundly knowing that they were safe in there sleep with three dragons protecting them, even though they were more tired then the group, having flown one fourth of a continent in seven hours. A wizard could have lit them on fire and they would still not wake up.

Once again, Javelin had on of his dreams. This time it was different from the others, instead of himself he dreamed about a woman. The woman was beautiful even more than Quiver. She had long black hair and almost gold tanned skin. She looked sad and seemed so wrong. She was holding a bloody knife and just stared at it. She was sitting in a dimly lit room that looked like something out of a castle. There where rare items all over and gold on just about everything in the room. This woman was royalty. The dream was almost over when he saw the growing pool of blood under her. She had stabbed herself in the stomach with the knife.

Javelin awoke screaming at the top of his voice. It was dawn and everyone was standing around him trying to calm him down. "Wake up Javelin! You're having a nightmare. What in the world were you dreaming about?" Crystal was the only one talking; she had to throw water on him in order to wake him up. He was very embarrassed to have done this.

"I don't know what to say. I'm so sorry to have awoken you guys. I was dreaming of a woman who stabbed herself. She was so beautiful. How loud was I screaming?" Jem answered with a tired voice.

"You've been screaming all night but you only woke me until about ten minuets ago when you got louder. You even woke Titan up, and he's slept through goblin attacks. Do you normally have dreams like that?"

"No, never like that, I don't think I've ever screamed like that in my sleep before." Jem looked very interested in Javelin's dream. Scratching his head he asked.

"What do you normally dream about or do you rarely dream?" Javelin was nervous, he didn't know weather or not to tell them about his dreams or not. If he did tell, they might think he was crazy. If he didn't, he might never know why he had these dreams. Jem seemed to understand what was going on and know how to help him. Finally he decided to try to work up the nerve to tell them.

"I've been having these dreams for about three years, and never had the same one twice. They're usually about me, using magic to save and take lives. This was the first time that I ever dreamed about other people. Although now you probably think I'm crazy so now what? Are you going to put me into an asylum, kill me, and leave me here to die?" Jem looked at Crystal in a strange way. He looked scared yet happy. This scared Javelin.

"The only reason we would ever consider you crazy is for thinking we would do that to you. Javelin, what you're having are called self premonitions. It's your body adapting to magical energy growing within you. Whenever a magic worthy person reaches a certain age, they experience these premonitions. It's kind of like wizard puberty. It's why you're probably attracted to magical objects."

"Wait, what do you mean 'attracted?' Do you mean I should be pulled toward magical things?" Jem laughed, shaking his head he said.

"No, No, you feel like magical things are attractive, you can pick them out of a group of non-magical things. Here let's see if you really are magically potential. But of course it's up to you, so it's your call." Javelin was nervous, he wanted to know, but if he did know, if he was magically potential, he would be going against every aspect of his religion, he would be cursed to walk the afterlife, doing everything he did magically only ten times and ten times more difficultly. (According to the religion his aunt and uncle taught him.) In the end, he decided to take his chances."OK, Jem lets do this. What do I need to do?" Crystal gave Jem a look of anger and fear. She looked like if she didn't have to keep silent, she would be yelling at him loud enough to be heard the whole way back to Gunthor. Jem, ignoring her death gaze, replied happily.

"Great, turn around and Crystal and I will group several items together and we'll see what happens." As he turned around he heard Jem casting a spell and stones hitting the ground. After a pause, Jem said. "Alright, turn around." Javelin was somewhat disappointed, instead of seeing brilliant magical artifacts and potions; he saw eight brown stones lying in a circle. "OK, look at the stones, I have enchanted one of them, so if you're magically potential, it should be much more beautiful to you. Well, what do you think? Which one is magical?" Javelin was frustrated, they all looked the same, he picked them all up and much to his dismay, he didn't notice any difference between the stones, they all looked and felt the same. .They all felt warm, but none more than the other.

"I don't know, they all feel the same. Its like they're all the same, they're all so beautiful. I don't understand." javelin never even looked up from the stones, he felt as though they would disappear forever if he shed his gaze from them. That's when it hit him. He didn't enchant just one of the stones; he had tried to trick him into thinking that only one was enchanted… With great enthusiasm javelin shouted" ha, there all enchanted. You tried to fool me into thinking that there was only one! I knew that something was going on." Jem and Crystal both looked surprised to find that Javelin had out-smarted them. Jem was very excited yet Crystal didn't seem to be very impressed

Jem beat Crystal to the punch when she tried to speak." Very good Javelin, I was beginning to think that you didn't have it in you. But somehow I knew that you could do it. This could be the start of great things. How does it feel to have such power?"

Crystal was furious yet didn't show it to anyone. She knew that this was very dangerous. Yet it could be just a false warning, she didn't want to take any chances. She knew that this wasn't the way to judge weather or not a person was capable of using magic. It required weeks of research and a host of mages with the proper experience to properly decide weather the subject could even handle the awesome power given to every wizard, or any type of magical being there is. So what is he can tell what stones were enchanted, that could have been a coincidence that he found all of them to be beautiful. _She_ even thought that they were nice, though; she _too_ was attracted to magical objects. And even if he _had been_ able to tell them apart, he still might be too week to comprehend the power. "This means nothing; perhaps he just found the stones to be precious to him for other reasons. Besides we need more than a battle mage's view of the boy. We need a counsel experienced mages, wizards, shamans, arch mages, sages, and permission from the oracle. But, none the less, you do appear to be potential, but the real question is, are you capable of controlling this magical power? There are all kinds of people who are capable of using magic but have no sense of self control. Sure we know that he can use magic but how do we know that he can control it. What's stopping him from casting a spell that could kill hundreds of innocent people or even himself?" Lance noticed that this was building up into one of Jem and Crystal's "loud discussions" so he decided to stop it before some one got enchanted.

"O.K. guys come on, we've got to mount the dragons soon, and we'll discuss this magic business later, after we've reached---"

Just then they heard a loud snapping noise coming from the forest. All Javelin could see was bright flashes of red, orange, and blue. When it was dim enough to see he looked up to find himself and all the others on the ground accept for Jem who was countering attacks from a strange figure completely covered with a black cloak. The only thing Javelin could see of the man was his milky white hands holding a white, snake, shaped staff. From all around the mage come at least twenty cloaked warriors charging with swords, spears, axes, and bows. Lance grabbed a spear and threw one to javelin.

"O.K. kid lets see what you can do." By the time Javelin had caught the spear; the rest of the group was already armed and prepared to fight. Using all of the skills and techniques that his uncle taught him, he used his spear as a pole volt to leap into the battle and landed of one of the warriors, knocking them down. As soon as they hit the ground he swung his spear across the man's stomach then his throat. As he turned to find his next opponent he saw Hilt's sword coming down to block an attack aimed at Javelin. He then swung the sword around and struck the man in the chest cutting him into two pieces and spattering them both with warm blood. Javelin wiped the blood of his face and turned again to find another attack conning from the other direction, this one he actually blocked himself using the middle part of the spear then twisting around to finish the man and almost beheaded him. He looked back and saw Hilt cutting through the warriors like they were weeds. With all the noise of Jem's lightning spells and Crystal's counter spells defending them from the dark mage, Javelin barley even noticed Quivers arrows whizzing by. He almost didn't even hear her screaming for help when four warriors attacked her at once. With arrows and lightning flying in every direction, her only chance was Javelin. He didn't even look around to make sure there wasn't another attack coming; he just sprinted to her aid. By the time he reached them Quiver was on the ground being beaten and slashed. With all of his strength Javelin jabbed the spear into back of the closest of the four assailants so hard that he could hear the bones in his back shattering, and the mans faint screams of agony. By then the other three drew their attention to Javelin. As he whirled his weapon around to strike the next opponent he felt a pulsing pain in his left arm and in his right leg shortly after. He looked down to see an arrow in his arm and a spear coming out of his leg. Despite the agonizing pain he managed to bring himself to remove his spear from the chest of the man he had just stabbed and whipped the spear at the highest speed he could disemboguing him in the process. Before he could turn to strike the last of the four, Quiver had recovered from her attack enough to shoot an arrow into the now frightened man's head then she fell back to the ground. Javelin now realized that Crystal been distracted by his screaming and fighting and was no longer countering the dark mages attacks. The mysterious man also noticed this and took advantage of the distraction, but before he could rise his staff to attack Javelin chucked his Spear strait into his heart. This threw him almost five feet back into the woods, finishing off the last of the attackers.

Javelin was exhausted and dizzy, immediately after he threw the spear; he fell to the ground next to Quiver. He looked at her wounds and realized that they were both bleeding consistently, and decided that bleeding to death didn't sound much like fun, so he yelled out to Hilt and Lance who were examining the dead warriors. Within a moments notice Lance was at Quiver's side helping her to reduce the bleeding. Hilt looked worried when he saw Javelins wounds. It was an awkward sight to see a man of such size strength to be afraid of such a small thing.

"Hum… Well Javelin, that doesn't look too bad but let's have Jem fix you up none the less, O.K.?" He was clearly trying not to panic and keep him calm, this became obvious with his next words. "JEM! CRYSTAL! GET OVER HERE NOW!" Within two seconds the two appeared next to them. Jem looked over to Crystal and said.

"Heal Quiver, I'll take him." Then he turned to javelin and said. "O.k. lets have a look at that leg of yours. Oh wow, that's pretty deep, did we have ourselves an accident?" Hilt looked at him like he was going to kill him.

"Just heal him already; he's loosing too much blood!" "Hum, I don't know hilt, it looks pretty bad, I think we may have to remove the entire leg."

"_I _think that if you don't heal him right now _I'm _gonna have to remove both of _your_ arms!" Jem just laughed

"Ok ok, let's see what we can do." He began to rub his hands together slowly at first then faster and faster to generate mana faster. Then Javelin felt his leg get warmer and warmer the faster he rubbed his hands until the pain dissipated. He then placed his hands just a few inches above the gouge in his leg and it began to glow blue. As soon as the glowing dimmed the wound looked and felt as if there had never been a piece of steel four inches in his leg. When Jem finally spoke he was out of breath and looked dizzy. "As for the arm; just take the arrow out and eat white tree bark and you should be better by the time we reach boric" unlike Javelin, Quiver wasn't afraid to show her pain.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Not the back yet, oh, that hurts! Just do my leg now and save the back for last."

"Ok just lay still so I don't miss. Lance, hold her still so I don't screw this up."

A few hours later once both Javelin and Quiver were healed, Lance approached javelin and kneeled down to talk to him.

"You did a damn good job out there today kid; you really impressed all of us today. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry. When we heard all of those stories about how the slave who killed an armed man with only a stick and survived a goblin sea attack, we thought that it couldn't have been you, we thought that you were too small to be the one they were talking about. Now I can see that that slave _was_ you. But that's not why I came over here to talk to you about. I came to thank you for saving Quiver. She would have died if you hadn't risked your life trying to save her. You saved the life of the only reason I want to live, if you hadn't done that I wouldn't be standing here right now. And we'd all be dead right now if you hadn't killed that mage. So we all owe you our lives. You have my respect and brotherhood javelin, that's the only thing I have to give." Javelin felt so honored to be hearing this, nobody had ever treated him like that, and he had quite a difficulty coming up with anything he could say to express how he felt.

"That's all I've ever wanted from anyone, just their respect, noting more, nothing less. What I did was all I could and that's all you'll ever receive from me; my best. Besides, I couldn't let you spoil all of the fun and kill _all _of them could I?" The two laughed for several seconds then lance replied

"No, that wouldn't be any fun. Get some rest and we'll mount the dragons in a few hours. Ok?" Javelin had one last thing to talk about. "Who were those clocked warriors? Why did they want us dead so badly? And are there more?" Lance looked serious; he looked at the ground and said.

"Their known as the shadow rouges. They're a group of mercenary rouges that patrol the Boric-Aradnia border. They've been around ever since the boric rebellion. They wanted us dead because they knew that were on our way to boric and they don't like outsiders interfering with their business. And yes there are many more of them where they came from. I used to fight with them until my family was killed. They were the ones who told the goblins where to find my home."." With those final words he left javelin to go to sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

As she walked up the stairs to visit Quaith as he requested, Omini tried to keep the dream she had just one night ago fresh in her mind. She was very anxious to hear what he would tell her. Since her visit with him three days ago, her pains had intensified and she resorted to taking more of the potion and she was now almost out of it. Once she reached the Arch mage's quarters, she was dismayed to find that he wasn't there, what was however was a note on the door that said. "Went to teach fire magic in the gardens, sorry I couldn't be here to counsel with as I promised. You may. I you'd like join my class for the lesson and afterwards we can talk." Omini was amazed by the man's ability to see things before they happen. He knew that she would be here at this exact time, for this exact reason, and what she would have wanted to do. What she didn't understand was why, if Quaith could see in the future that well, didn't he foresee the attack at Sable? Perhaps he did, but why wouldn't he have done anything to stop it? She would have to ask him once she found him in the gardens.

With the knowledge she had just obtained, Omini went strait to the gardens which was all the way down the tower stairs, across the massive campus of the magic school, and through the gates guarded constantly looking for trespassers. Once she made it half way down the stairs, she net up with a young couple walking rather slowly. She was about to pass them when she noticed what they were talking about. "I heard that they've made it to Talist and completely destroyed the entire city. Thousands of them." They both looked worried about what ever they were talking about.

"If they're not stopped soon they could wind up here in a few weeks. That's what I don't like about Aradnia, we've got Boric to the north and they've never real liked us. We've got Rerit to the east they never given us any trouble before, but they've still got the power to hurt us pretty bad if we really piss them off enough. We've got the goblin attacks coming up from the south from Enzik and we don't know why they hate us so much. And if that's not enough we're right next to the most fought over place in Farren the Crosic islands. All in all if we do something stupid, we're screwed." At first Omini didn't know what the two were talking about until they mentions the goblins and then she remembered about the attacks just yesterday to the south.

"I don't think it really matters because we have Quaith, surly he could stop them couldn't he?"

With that they reached the bottom of the stairs and Omini went out towards the gardens. As she walked further away from the two she heard them talk in a lower voice. "Who was that behind us?" They were clearly talking about Omini.

"That's that one girl who has the 'spirit pains', I don't see why she even tries to lie about it. Everyone knows that she's just saying that to get closer to Quaith. What does she want with _him_ anyways, other than his attention and pity?" This angered Omini. They had no business to ask about her actions, they didn't even know her. If she hadn't been in a hurry to find Quaith she would have tried to contradict what they said. So she did as she had always done and kept her mouth shut and kept on moving.

The wizard high order was a very large and sometimes confusing place, spanning the entire area of a well sized city. There were dozens of huge schooling buildings used to teach magic to those interested, and quarters for all of the scholars, faculty, and anyone else needing a good, safe, nights sleep. It was the safest place to be in Aradnia after all. There was the high counsel building near the center, this was where any decision to be made concerning magic in any way were made. Above all of the other magnificent buildings, only two of them were considered to be prime over all others was the library, which contained scrolls with the knowledge of trillions of spells. No living being, was it mortal or immortal had ever learned all of the spells and techniques in there. The other was the great tower, standing over all other buildings; it was a reminder for all who opposed the order of magic. Inside were the high priests quarters and places for arcane spells and rituals requiring large amounts of space and resources at arms reach. The tower was also riddled with hundreds of secret passages and rooms full of the most powerful magic items. Omini didn't really care about those places at the present moment, she had her mind set on one place in the entire world and that was the gardens.

As she finally reached the gardens it was about midday and the first sun was about ready to set and the second was just beginning to rise. This was the perfect time to visit the gardens. As the suns were setting and rising the colors of the diverse plants brighten creating a warm sensational feeling and resting even the most troubled mind. The sky began to darken as it always did at this time of day and after an instant of darkness the most brilliant light shone through the sky. Despite all of Omni's great hurry to meet with the wizard high priest she couldn't help but pause to gaze at the paralyzing beauty that she was so fortunate to be amongst.

The sight though amazing was soon ended and Omini quickly began to search the labyrinth of plants and walls surrounding her. She could hear the faint talking of several people very close to her yet she couldn't see them. They had to be on the other side of the wall she was next to. After several wrong twists and turns she finally managed to find the group.

"Now breathe in slowly and hold your breath for as long as you can. This will help you concentrate the mana within you. Once you can fell the energy swirling through your hands and chest, envision a small ball of any color. Now very slowly mold the ball into the first thing that comes to mind. Be sure to never work to quickly in this process for it will surly corrupt your end product. This is a very important lesson to keep in mind through all of your lives, especially if you extend on becoming a fire mage, take your time. If you think that you're ready to release the energy direct it towards the wall." Omini had always enjoyed watching Quaith teach. Even the simplest lesson seemed like an adventure, or journey, even though you're trying to reach a certain destination you're still having fun along the way, and no matter what it's like in the end you still wish it lasted longer.

Slowly as the students Quaith was teaching grew confident in what they were doing they're hands began to glow yellow-green. On student was overcome by the enormous power they had created and fell backwards releasing the deformed shaped mass of energy ten feet into the sky where it burst into a flame for a split second before it disappeared. As another student slowly released her energy, the mass was already forming in her hands. It appeared to be just a small ball until a blinding flash came from it and as the student released the ball it burst into the shape of a dove made completely of blue flames. It began to flap and fly strait towards the wall and when it hit, the shape of a crescent moon was permanently imprinted on the wall beside thousands of other shapes that had been imprinted by young students. Some of them were hundreds of years old and not one of them was the same as any other.

"Ah, Vanta, your symbol from now until you cast your last fire spell is to be the crescent moon, the symbol of serenity. ……….oh Omini, I didn't even see you over there. Come, join us. We were just having a sort of inauguration ceremony for my first year students. You see the symbol is a direct communication with their spirit and their minds. It's a rather amazing thing to see don't you think?"

Omini sat down next to one of the nine students and said. "I've never seen anything like it before. But what significance does the symbol have though?"

The student next to her stood up in an outrage and snapped. "The symbol has every significance, you fool! It means everything and nothing at the same time! Without it we would never be able to judge each other without knowing them, since each symbol defines their personality! I would figure that since you've been spending so much time around head master Quaith, you would know the least about his favorite class, taking up time that he could be teaching! You…"

This bazaar outburst even surprised Quaith, not even with all of the knowledge he possessed he couldn't explain to himself why this student would explode with this kind of anger, nor did he understand why he didn't foresee any of this happening. He quickly shook all of these thoughts out of his mind temporarily and took control of the situation. "Nimis! This is all uncalled for! She was merely asking an innocent question! I swear, what's gotten into the world? Is anyone out there still sane? This young woman has a problem; she came to me in search of help and answers that none of you ever cared to even try to give her. You all knew that she had these problems due to all of your little rumors and the like. So the question is, if you're so angry that she's using up my time which happens to belong to me, why didn't any of you help her? You think I'm treating her any different better than you, in afraid you very mistaken. I'm giving her the same help that I would give to anyone of you. I'm here to help all of you. I find it to be very insulting that you think I would be so greedy and pursue my own interests and completely neglect all of your needs."

The student stared at the ground, unable to make eye contact with the man. "Master, please forgive me. I didn't mean to misjudge or insult you."

Quaith sighed "I think all of this war, confusion, and heat is starting to get to us. Class is dismissed for the day. Be here tomorrow same time for the rest of the inauguration."

Once all of the students left Quaith tired to Omini. "I'm deeply sorry about my student he can tend to be rather hot headed at times. But he is most definitely one of the most talented students I've ever worked with he just has very little patience at times. But any way, how has the potion been treating you?"

"Well head master, things have seemed to be changing. The pains I feel have begun to intensify and it's coming in less predictable waves. Before, I could tell you the time of day when each wave came, now there completely random and last longer. It also seems like the potion is getting less potent or something because it only lasts for a short while. And something even more bazaar is happening. Every time I get one of the waves of pain, there's this symbol, it's so difficult to explain. I see it but not with my eyes its still there when I close them. I can feel it but I don't have to touch it its like I already know everything about how it feels. All I have to do is think about it and I can feel it. I drew it to the best of my abilities, I'm not exactly the most talented artists but here it is." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper the size of her hand and gave it to him.

"Well, this is rather odd that the feelings have…….." It was just then that he looked at the piece of paper and dropped it. There was a ghastly look of fear on his face that alarmed Omini; she had never seen Quaith look so upset. "You see this every time you get the pain? Oh my…. This, this, I, I must look further into this, until I can help you I suggest you stay in the tower or at least near it." Quaith stared in silence at the paper that now lye on the ground next to him.

"So what do you think this means? I mean this is beginning to feel like much more than "spirit pains" as many of the other students have begun to name them. I don't even think I can deal with the grief that they're giving me not to mention the pains and the dreams. "Quaith immediately looked up at Omini.

"I don't remember anything about you saying you were having trouble with your dreams. When did this start?" Omini didn't like the feeling that Quaith reaction gave her.

"Not to long after our last meeting, perhaps about three days later. They seem to all be the same, it's so simple but it seems to have such a powerful meaning, I just can't understand it." The two sat down on an old wooden bench. The nails holding together had almost been completely eroded. Omini didn't even think that she would be able to sit on it with out it falling apart beneath her.

"You don't know much about this bench do you, Omini

"No, I don't. I know its old, but that's about it. I take it this bench has more than moss and rust in it?" Quaith shook his head.

"No, that's all it has accept one thing you didn't mention. It has something that everything has yet very few people ever think about it. This bench has a story behind it, a story that few people know of and even fewer people can understand. Do you care to listen?" Omini knew this had some type of significance to what he was trying to explain to her. This was his preferred means of teaching, especially when he had trouble just saying it right out in the open.

"Believe it or not this bench has been here longer than the great tower, before any of our magic touched this land." Omini couldn't believe this, the tower had been here for ages and magic had been there for even longer.

"Are you trying to tell me that this bench has been here for more than six thousand years?" this finally broke Quaith's stare and he looked up to Omini.

"Yes, and so has the wall that my students were casting their inauguration spells towards. It's hard to believe that wizards have been using this wall to see themselves for that long isn't it?"

"I don't get it, if this bench and wall have been here for that long they would have eroded away until there was nothing left of them but dust. How would they have persevered for so long?" Quaith laughed out loud.

"Omini, there is more to life than rot and decay. Think for a moment, haven't you been paying attention in any of the classes you've been studying? Magic can last a very long time so long as its source is still providing the energy."

"What does this have to do with the bench though? And how is it possible for a spells source to last so long?" Omini was getting very confused very quickly, this was one of Quaith's downfalls, and he sometimes forgot that he wasn't talking to arch mages and headmasters but a young wizard who only knows a few small spells."

"Sorry, I know I sometimes get a little carried away. This place that you and I are sitting is one of the most important places in all of Farren. This was where magic was discovered. The great Omini itself sat in this place and cast the very first spell placing its symbol on this very wall." He then pointed to the symbol that was darker than all of the others. That's when it hit her, that's when she realized why Quaith was so troubled by the symbol that she drew, it was the same thing with only one difference the oracle's symbol was a five pointed star pointing up with an eye in the middle, all of this was within a larger more faint star, Omni's was the same star accept it was upside down and the larger star was darker and the smaller one was lighter.

"Master Quaith, you can't be serious." Omini was now very scared; this was very clear in her voice. Quaith took a deep breath and, from the way he looked prepared to have a very deep conversation with her.

"I'm afraid not, the symbol you're dreaming about is the exact opposite of the oracles."

"So what does this mean? There has to be some kind of explanation."

"I …I … don't know Omini, I just don't know. I know it must mean something significant but what?" The fact that even the most powerful wizard was getting stressed over this issue was more than she could handle.

"What do you mean you don't know? What about you psychic thing that you do, like when I would walk to the door and you'd know who it was exactly when I would knock? Why don't you use that?" Quaith just bowed his head and sighed."

"I think is time that we continue this discussion elsewhere." Quaith waved his hands across her eyes and snapped his fingers, immediately they were inside his chambers, this was making Omini think she was having another one of her dreams, there was a magical shield around this entire tower that made it impossible for any kind of transporting spell to be used either to leave or to enter. Yet some how Quaith had just proven this to be false.

"Just because there's something in your way doesn't mean you can't get through now does it? I'd explain but I think you'd more interested in knowing this. This 'psychic ability' you speak of does not exist the only reason everyone thinks it does is because I was born with a very observant personality I knew you were coming because I could hear your footsteps and by the way you were walking I could tell you were in some kind of distress, I knew that you were about to knock because I know that once you reach the top of the stairs you change the speed and pace at which you walk and I knew that it happens to be seven steps from the stairs to the door. I also tend to get to know people very quickly which is how I knew that you'd be back as soon as I said you should be and not a moment too soon or late, because you are a very curious person and would do almost anything you could to learn about what is harming your soul. This probably seems to be quite a surprise but I must stress to the highest extent that you must tell no one about this because it could desperately harm the chances of our survival in the world." Omini was at a loss for words, she had just been told one of the greatest secrets that Quaith had kept in his complex mind and yet she still didn't care, she was concerned with what was going on with the symbols.

"Ok but why is it that you don't understand what I'm seeing? Master Quaith, all of this is scaring me so why don't we at least try to put what we do know together to see at least where we are right now."


	12. Chapter 12

"General, wut shal wee bern of dis sity?"

With a disgusted look, the four foot tall goblin answered crookedly, "Wuts do madder wit yu lugtard, am I gona got ta kill anover one ov my luterts? We burn it all down!"

"And wut ov da survivers." This question aggravated the general so much that he grabbed his last Lieutenant by his poorly constructed armor and slammed him into a scorched stone wall, got less than an inch from his face and grumbled.

"Make sure there _are_ none!" with those last words he through him onto the ground and started to walk away when he said.

"Wate, I got a bedder idear brin mi as many as yu kan alive"

With a twisted smile he replied " Ov curse, I lik dat look!"

An entire army of about two thousand goblins had marched into the boric village of laminur, hopping to find enough food to keep them alive until they reach another village along the way to the place that they were to meet their ship. They didn't find much food but what they did find would last them about three days. This was a problem because they needed enough food to two weeks, so they decided that even though it would be a very disgusting meal, they would eat the villagers themselves to save the food that they find there. Goblins find human meat to be comparable to rotten meat of any other kind.

After several hours of killing and burning, they finally burned the entire village to the ground and managed to keep twelve villagers alive despite the overly excited and bloodthirsty goblins. They were herded into a small circle of cheering goblin soldiers. In the middle, stood the general with a rusty short sword in each hand. He motioned for two of the humans to walk forth.

"Yu hav ben accused ov da most hanest krimes er curt ken jersify, if da jury(The surrounding goblins cheered.) Fines yu gultee yu sal bee senenced too death"

"Wait! What we being charged with?" The general walked up to the well-built man who stood almost twice as high as he did and said. "Wel I taut it wuz abvous, Ur bein chargd fur being human."

"What! This isn't at all fair you can't charge us for living!"

"Oh, und why nut? If et wuz one uv us en yer kurt ud bee duin da sam ting to us! Hummmm but, just ta bee 'fair' dis iz wut Il du. ll giv yu both one ov dems sords und yu kan al fite to da death, und wo ever iz da last 'man' standin gits to liv, now fite!"

He threw them both one of the swords and stepped back. Once the men grabbed the swords they immediately charged towards the general, but there actions were too predictable. He jumped up and swung his battle axe with such might that he beheaded both of them at once. "I tink yu all no wut happens to yu when yu try dat. Now nex too fite!"

He tossed them the swords and before anyone knew it they were fighting to the death. This was the general's favorite way to finish a village, this way the people were killed in a humiliating manor, the moral of the last man was so low that he usually ended up killing himself soon after victory, the soldiers were entertained and fed, and it would strike fear into the hearts of the humans outside the village.

The soldiers loved to watch these events. They found it so humorous watching them fight against their own will, to kill or be killed. Often goblins would kill each other over places to stand so they could see the fights better. Though this was a ravaging band of war hungry creatures, they were very misunderstood. Not all goblins bloodthirsty brutes, some saw more to life than a chance to kill and destroy, ones who sought knowledge and happiness. This was a very rare trait found in goblins. Obviously, there were none of them around Luminur at the time.

One goblin known as Lirk was standing with another, Valvar, out side of the group of others who were cheering and chanting.

"I don't sie why dems done wanna fite, if it er mi id be mor dan hapy to kil _anything!"_

"I no, un wit all dis efert der putin inta resistin dey cud bee usin to fite, il never understend humens." Over the shouting of the excited goblins the two could barley make out the sound of the general screaming for the next two to fight.

Out of the corner of his beady eyes, Lirk saw a flash of steel from behind on of the still burning shacks of the village. Upon realizing the fun they could have, he motioned for Valvar to follow. As the two casually walked to the small unoccupied area where he spotted one of the humans escaping, the two could smell the stench that the man gave off. As soon as they reached the spot where they saw him they drew their axes and jumped around the corner to find the man aware of their presence. The man swung his great jeweled sword around in a failed attempt to behead Valvor, who countered the attack gouging his blade into his knee. Next Lirk whirled around in well planned circles clashing his axe against the man's sword. The two found this human to be rather difficult compared to most of the others. Though this may be because they were mostly unarmed women and children. The three fought with unbelievable energy until Valvor's axe was splintered and the man's sword was stuck up into his gut and ripped out. Upon seeing his closest friend be slaughtered by his most hated enemy, Lirk let out a shriek of anger and rage, throwing down his weapon, he reached out, dodging his assailant's attacks, and grabbed him by his throat and swung the man into the side of the shack. The man struggled to recuperate from the trauma to his head and grab the sword he had dropped, but it was too late. He felt the goblin's foot stomp on his back and grab his head. Growling with rage, Lirk used every ounce of energy to crush the man's skull in.

Covered in blood Lirk walked out of the now smldering shack and watched the end of the last fight with the rest of the goblins.

The general walked out to the last standing human in the entire village to finish the entertainment.

"O kay den, az I promised, u wil b let to liv, humen. Guard, finish this!"

The blood battered man what are you doing, you said I would be spared?"

Laughing, the general said, "ov curse u wil, but ferst u must be punished."

The man was now furious "What the hell do you mean punished? What was that fight I just did?"

"Dat waz ur punizment fer bein a humen, dis iz ur punizment fer murder und treazen! Hahahahah."

The guards seized him an tied him down. The general called for a drum roll as a bulky goblin with the most atrocious face carried in a red hot knife and rod. Laughing, he began to burn deep designs of goblin symbols and the brand of the goblin army all over his body. The man screamed out in horror and pain as they then began to burn his face making zigzags all along is face. In the end of it all the man was unrecognizable as a human and released into a deserted ghost village.

Later that night, as most of the army had fallen asleep; Guthlok, a highly ranked officer and head of the scouting party stood the tent of the general and requested permission to enter.

"Come in Guthlok, what news do you bring?" it was so strange for him to hear his master speak so clearly and proper. He never talked like a human in the presence of the soldiers as that would demoralize them to know that their own general was more human than them.

"I bring news of both good and of bad sire. The good is that we are in very close proximity to the sea, however there are human troops patrolling the shores and the ships wont be here for at least four days. We are also running low on food and other supplies for the soldiers. I have even heard that the humans have sent six of their most powerful troops on dragon back to track and destroy us. They should be here in less than a day. What do we do?"

"I know of our supply shortage and have decided to split the army in half. I will go with one half and bring the stone and all of the supplies with me. As for the other half, ill tell then that we are out of supplies and need them to raid the local villages for weapons and food. This will help to throw off the humans and double the speed we can sail home. We must make it home with the stone or we'll all be exiled by the king."


	13. Chapter 13

A black storm was rolling on the horizon while blue and red lightning rained down from the heavens. In the shadows of the forest he scavenged the ground for slightest hint of life to sustain him long enough to find another scrap of nourishment. He had gone almost insane; only one thing still gripped his sanity, which kept him moving, trying to find the way out of this hell. What it was, he didn't know it was such a foggy memory that javelin was left with after he awoke. He lied still and focused on what he could remember to piece together the rest of his dream. It was several minutes before it came back to him. He was almost insane and completely starved to death when he saw the same girl from his other dreams. She stood upright in clean, untainted, white robes. It was as if she was completely unaware of the looming death around them she just looked at him and began to say something when something happened. Before he could get any further he had awoken. It was strange to him how he had been wakened, it wasn't even dawn and the rest of the circle was still asleep. Javelin was just about to go back to sleep when he realized the only thing wrong with what he saw. Quiver was sleeping alone, every other time that she slept lance was at her side in fact lance wasn't even near the camp. As he leaned up to investigate further into this puzzle he heard sticks breaking and saw a torch outside of the camp. After a moment he realized that it was lance, walking into the nearby forest. Being the half elf that he was he got up and removed all of his armor and weapons so he didn't make noise and quietly moved to follow him. Javelin had hardly even made it out of the camp and into the forest when he noticed the torch had stopped moving. He saw this as a good opportunity to catch up so he increased his pace. Once he had gotten within twenty feet of it javelin realized that the torch had stopped moving because it was no longer in lances hand. He found it odd that Lance would just leave the torch sticking upright in the ground. As he approached it, he came to find his suspicions of a trap to be true. Immediately after hearing a noise behind him a hand came up and covered his mouth.

"What are you doing up this early?" javelin felt so relieved to hear lances voice instead of another's. When his mouth was uncovered javelin turned around and said.

"You woke me when you left, so the real question is 'what are _you_ doing out this early?'" lance grabbed the torch and motioned for javelin to follow.

"I had a dream that this happened and that we were to walk into the forest and find something. I'm sorry that I woke you, when I left I saw you deep in sleep. I thought you were having some kind of nightmare and was actually going to wake you. When you instantly went from miserable to in the most relieved look I've ever seen, so I left you to sleep." Javelin was about to reply when he saw something blur in the corner of his eye. He stopped to see what it was and he saw it blur to the left. This time lance saw it and waved the torch in all different directions.

"Who's there?"

Its voice sounded so strong and pure

"I am the warrior of the rusty sword and the broken shield. I am the one who makes cowards crawl and warriors rise up with a battle cry." Upon speaking these words the creature showed himself sitting on a large bolder that molded itself into a throne as soon as he went to sit in it.

Lance dropped the torch and his sword that he had drawn and bowed.

"Gora, forgive me for not showing you proper respect. To what do we owe the incredible honor of your glorifying presence?" Javelin was awe struck, he was standing before the god of war. The great man stood so tall and proud that he felt that his scrawny presence was a dishonor to him. His golden armor and massive battle axe shined in the torch light better than a mirror, making it difficult to see his divine face.

"You've been hunting an army of goblins for several days, they carry the zodiak stone. If they manage to use it properly they will likely defeat the humans and the dwarfs and eventually spread across the world. I have come to tell you that they have split up into two groups the group that the general commands has the stone and enough supplies to get them to their ships; the other has been left on a wild goose chase to find food and other supplies. In reality the general has abandoned half of his army to spare the other half. Having told you this news I must give you a grim message, the quest that you are on will take the life of one of your comrades. I will not tell you who but their death will shake the entire group. The gods have been watching both of your with great interest, and we are counting on you all to find success in this quest. Do not fail us, for the outcome will shape the world for centuries to come."

Within a blink of an eye Gora disappeared just as fast as he had appeared just moments before, leaving Lance and Javelin in a curious silence.

"Why would the God of war just randomly appear and give us information about the goblins? It's weird that the gods are so interested in this. There must be something more to this what meets the eye, but what? I'm not sure javelin, but we'd better get back to camp, there are terrible things in these woods."

The two walked in silence back to the camp and went back to sleep after a few hours of thinking about what had just happened.


End file.
